Page 195 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

He doesn’t even hesitate one bit before he says, “Yes.”

Bullshit.

Footsteps rush to us from behind, and I have no choice but to follow him as we climb to the top of the balcony’s white marble railing. I tell myself to not look down.

I force my eyes to close.

And I fall.

Part Three

The Falling

Chapter 40

In Your Choices Lie Your Fate

LUCIAN

Desdemona’s hand is in mine as we sink deeper into the water. I begin to swim, but I’m carrying most of our weight.

Something is wrong, I can feel it. Instinctively, I turn to Desdemona, seeing that her dress is tangling around her legs. She’s trying to reach for her thigh and failing.

I let go of her hand and swim beneath her, my head at her knees, my arms holding her waist. She meets my gaze and nods, answering my question by tapping her left thigh.

My hands rise up under her dress, grazing her soft skin. But now is not the time to grow overwhelmed by the feeling of her. Locating the blade, I unsheathe it.

Barely a blade. It’s a letter opener.

Desdemona lets out a muffled cry, and I look behind her.

The guards and soldiers have caught up.

Carefully and quickly, I cut up the side of her dress as best I can with the paper cutter. But it’s a measly thing. In the end, I grip her dress with both my hands and tear.

She kicks her feet. Grabbing her hand again, we swim.

The timing is important. Desdemona is running out of breath, and if I open a portal and can’t get us both through before the guards follow, then it’s all for naught.

I’m jerked back, stopped. Desdemona tugs on my hand and I let go, swimming behind her and stabbing the guard who grabbed her in the heart.

He lets go to reach for the wound in his chest, but a soldier grabs my hand that wields the blade. Another guard grabs my legs.

“Desdemona!” I try to shout. It is a barely audible cry.

She’s being restrained as well. A guard has both her hands, and another swims behind.

Her face is blanched. My lungs are on fire. If I don’t get air soon, my body will force me to choke down this water.

I’ll die.

Desdemona will die.

As if we did not have enough problems, something else approaches. Something large with a ball of light on its head.

The soldier pulls me, and I can only assume the guards are pulling Desdemona. I try to fight, but alas, my energy is dwindling.

That’s when I see it in its entirety. A corenth the size of the fatta scorpion, but with fins instead of claws. Teeth of blades instead of a stinger.

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